CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has sought documents from the state government to verify the authenticity of records relating to the approval of Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) for Rohinibanka gram panchayat in Nayagarh district, after a PIL alleged that the plan was finalised without a valid gram sabha resolution.
A division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo issued the direction in a recent order while hearing the PIL filed by Umacharan Nahak and three other local residents, challenging the finalisation and approval of the GPDP for the financial year 2026-27.
According to the petition, the director of State Institute for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, through a letter had informed district authorities that the planning window for preparing, approving and uploading the panchayat development plan was open from June 19 to August 15, 2026. The communication also called for intimating sarpanches about the requirement of giving 15 days’ prior notice for convening gram sabha meetings.
Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Bijaya Kumar Sahoo alleged that the development plan was finalised without a valid resolution of the gram sabha. Sahoo relied on the minutes of the August 15 meeting, which reportedly recorded that the meeting could not be held and was adjourned because most members were absent.
However, the GPDP carried signatures of several officials, including the sarpanch, and certified that it had been approved by the gram sabha at a meeting held on August 15.
Taking note of the apparent discrepancy, the bench observed that the issue was whether the development plan could be approved in the absence of a gram sabha meeting or on the basis of an approval that appeared doubtful from the documents placed before it.
The state government disputed the authenticity of the meeting record. Additional government advocate Debashis Tripathy submitted that the signatures on the document were not those of the authorities concerned, alleging that the document was forged and fabricated.
“In view of the stand of such serious nature is taken”, the judges directed the AGA to produce all the relevant documents and also inform the Court as to whether those documents are genuine or prepared and/or manufactured for the purpose of the instant Public Interest Litigation on the next date.
The PIL has been posted for October 29, for further consideration.
